by Hana Starr
He released his grip, and then pointed past her with the same hand to where the female was still laying into the males about letting the Drone child come to harm. “Do you see?”
Mariella kept watching the scene, though she knew that wasn’t what he was talking about. Her heart tightened with that warmth, twisting with sweetness, as he started to explain. “I understand that things are different where you used to live. For both of us, I am sorry that our experience went so awry.” He blushed a little, but kept going. “But, I am asking you to understand that this is what we grow up seeing and knowing. This is our life, the way we live. Males are simply not valued, though it is understood that we are a continuation of life. That is all we are, however.
“Do you understand why I act and feel the way I do?”
“Yes,” she said very quietly. She’d understood all along, but it meant the world to her that he would sit here and explain. “I’m so sorry I pressured you.”
He shook his head. “You pressured me but you did not force those feelings upon me. They were my feelings all along.” He sighed and turned his head to look at her. His eyes were brilliant, glowing brighter than the lights as the Hive life continued on around them. “Mariella, do not be mistaken. I do have feelings for you. I just don’t know what to do with them.”
Her heart suddenly filled, and so did her eyes. Tears sprang up to spill down her face. “Oh, Dante,” she whispered, and would have thrown herself into his arms. Instead, she just settled for holding his hands in hers. He didn’t move away, or look away. “I know you don’t. And this is such a confusing time for everyone. But, please. Please, Dante, don’t discount us? We don’t have to do anything until all this blows over. We can talk more afterward, if you like. To figure things out.”
He nodded. “I would like that, yes. I would like it very much.”
Chapter Thirteen
As she returned to her lab, the solution occurred to her that the problem lay within the stability of her catalyst: it worked too well. If, perhaps, she could find a way so to lessen its functionality somehow, it might never overheat.
It would be much easier simply to build some sort of timed mechanism but she had to want to completely disturb the lives of these people. That would be inhumane, to force them to adjust to an entirely new way of life just to save her two or three more days of work. After all, it would be part of their entire lives –and hers, actually. She had plans after this. Even if Dante offered to return her, that just wasn’t an option anymore.
Everyone would think I was crazy if I even tried to explain any of this, she thought, and then shook her head with amusement at herself. No use thinking about something that wouldn’t happen, right?
The assistants in the lab looked up to greet her with stiff waves, a habit they had picked up from her. She smiled at them, checked their progress on the latest series of panels, and then headed over to her station at the rear of the lab. “If this works out, I’ll need to think about getting some more hands here,” she murmured, picking up the nearest tool, and set to work.
Dante was the only reason she took breaks for the next long while. He had the free time he’d been looking for, currently focusing on crafting a translation bracelet for her. From his table at the other back corner of the room, she could feel him keeping an eye on her. And if it wasn’t for him, she would have worked straight through all her needs like she had so often on Earth. It was incredibly sweet that he watched out for her, though. He dragged her to eat, and then to her room again for sleep.
All evidence pointed to him sleeping in the tunnel just outside her room so that he could be there when she woke, as well. That was perhaps the sweetest thing of all.
When the last piece of the new and improved Grid slid into place, Mariella paused and stared down at the construction before her. It resembled a regular solar panel, and was not at all part of the complicated displays which supplied African villages before, but there were noticeable differences in the curved shape and the jagged adaptions around the edges. Those mechanisms would make it harder to carry but they were important; formed of Venusian materials, they were vital in that she would be using them to begin making the actual Grid connections. In addition to that, they would short out when overheated, but start back up again when they were cooled off.
Enough of these, installed at all different times, and the short-outs would never be noticeable.
I worked on these so long, I almost don’t know what to do with myself.
It was true, though. Though her outlook on the future was bright, what was she supposed to do after this, really?
For a moment, a dull sort of panic swelled up inside her. It consumed her thoughts, raking claws of cold down her spine as she suddenly went spiraling down inside her own thoughts. Lost and confused, she looked around, bewildered, trying to seek answers and finding none.
“Mariella?”
Dante, she thought, and looked up at him. He was watching her with round eyes, obviously concerned.
“Are you okay?” he asked softly, his hum very nearly a purr in its earnestness.
She kept looking up at him, letting his gaze cement her back inside herself. No, there was no need to panic. She did have a future here, after all. It involved Dante, and furthering the Hive. Who knew? They might someday soon rid themselves of the Mites and blossom back into a thriving society. Just because she was finished with this prototype didn’t mean she was going to be without work, as well. The rest of her life could very well be spent doing exactly here what she was doing on her own planet; in addition, there was the possibility of actually being able to spend her life with someone.
Someone very special.
Swallowing hard, she shook her head a little to clear her thoughts and then resumed looking up at him. “Yes,” she said softly. “I’m okay. I just got a little bit excited about this, that’s all. After all, this is the first finished panel. It’s the next generation of the Grid, and if it works, that means a whole lot.” She struggled a little to find the words. “It means so many different things.”
“Yes,” he murmured, and shyly lay his hand on hers. How strange it was that such a powerful grip that could rend enemies in half should be so gentle with her. “I know what you mean. This could change everything.”
Mariella sighed softly and nodded. “So, what should we do now? Is there a way to tell the Queen about all this now that we’re ready?”
“You leave that to me,” the alien said kindly. “I know you won’t want to go to sleep but you should rest here in the chair while I go and fetch her. The royal procession very rarely descends so far even as this, but convincing Her Majesty to travel to the very bottom of the mines? That will be quite the feat in and of itself but I perhaps know a way around it.”
“What is it?” she asked. He didn’t look very happy, whatever it was.
“The females do not like to walk very far below their upper stations, as I said. But perhaps if they were not to talk…”
Suppressing a laugh, she said, “What, you mean that you’d have to carry them?”
He grimaced and then nodded. “I am afraid so.”
She laughed some more, but then suddenly thought about what he’s said. The females didn’t like to go so far down? “But what about that woman we saw who was literally on the ground level? And all the ones we passed when we first got here?”
A funny, uncomfortable little smile danced over his face. “I knew her. She was a young mother. They can be protective of their first brood but after that, the experience tends to lessen.”
Brood?
His smile widened and yet shrank at the same time. “And those others you saw were interrupted lovers.”
Oh.
“Yes, even we will break boundaries to be with our mates. But, I do not think that we truly believe in a love such as that. It is not our way.”
“Not their way,” she pointed out. “How do you feel?”
He looked away, and she backed off. “Okay. Anyway. If you
don’t mind?”
“Not at all.”
The alien stood, towering over her. She kept her face where it was, admiring the soft bulge between his legs from where it was right next to her face. And then he leaned in, softly petting her hair. She struggled to keep control of herself, not wanting to ruin the sweet moment by gasping for breath, but she was still glad when he finally moved away.
Alone then, but not truly, she leaned back in her chair and wished for true solitude. There was no way she would be able to rest like this, not with her clit throbbing and excited.
Somehow though, she must have fallen asleep anyway though because she only came to when someone shook her shoulder. It was Dante, leaning over her again. This time, Mariella was smart enough to keep looking up at his eyes instead of his package. “Is it time?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied. “The Queen waits outside.”
“Already?” she asked, alarmed. Leaping to her feet, she noticed that the two assistants were already gone. “Why didn’t you come ahead and warn me so that I could be ready?”
That uncomfortable look flicked across his face again. “You will see. I apologize but it seems as though you will be carrying your equipment yourself.”
She frowned a little, and then kicked herself for being so prissy and stupid. “Okay,” she said. “You lead and I’ll follow.”
Quickly, hurrying to think of everything, she grabbed up as many of the tools from her worktable as she could, slung the necessary wires in a loop over both shoulders, and then hefted the heavy panel up in her arms. Almost immediately, her shoulders started to ache, but she staggered out of the room with her head held high to greet the royal procession.
Almost immediately, she saw why Dante wouldn’t be able to help her.
The Queen was being carried, having swapped out her throne for a hefty sheet of diamond which was being supported by a number of men. Dante was amongst their number, gripping a protruding gemstone pole with all his might. Every alien was straining and sweating, looking distinctly displeased. And beyond the Queen, there were more alien females in various states of aloftment. Quite honestly, this was the most unified she had ever seen them, and the most Drones she had ever seen at once, for sure.
“Oh,” she said, and then bowed her head over all her equipment. “My Queen.”
“Yes,” the Queen said, by way of greeting. “You will follow us, human.”
And follow she did, down and down and down. She fell in line behind the struggling men, watching Dante’s butt and back muscles to distract herself from the outrageous pain in her arms. The further they descended, the more jagged the tunnels grew. These were not the living quarters, worn smooth by eons of passage. No, these were rippled from being formed by pure molten earth and burning hot to touch. Even the ground beneath her thick leather boots grew painful, and her face felt flushed and humid.
For the first time in what must have been weeks, she felt her breath become labored. This was too far. Too far for the scant ventilation to bother with. Every breath, heat took her air more and more, and gave back littler each time. Then, suddenly, they stood out in the open.
Mariella gasped.
If she had thought the main living cavern was enormous, she had no idea of the scale of anything until she stood here in the belly of a dormant volcano.
This truly was hell.
There was no need for light here. The lava provided it all, a vast sea of burning orange and white and red. It had not settled at all, had not cooled or formed cracks even on the surface. No, this lava shifted in and out smoothly as a tide, far beneath the face of the wide cliff where they stood. And, as she looked out, she saw deep streaks of diamond glittering low on the walls.
I can’t imagine why no one has harvested that yet, she thought sarcastically.
The Queen turned to her. Rather, the Queen gestured and her bearers turned her. “Human,” the tiny monarch commanded, “demonstrate for us.”
“Of course,” Mariella said quickly, and hurried with her burdens over to the edge of the cliff. Looking down, she saw exactly what she’d been hoping for. The side of the cliff was not a straight drop but a gradual slope with deep paths cut into it that wrapped around the natural descent. There was plenty of space here to build generations and generations of Zenith Grid Juniors.
Zenith Grid the 42nd, she thought, and laughed to herself with delight. This was brilliant. It was pure, wonderful ecstasy!
Smiling broadly, she turned her head to look back at Dante. Though he was grimacing, stricken with pain and aching, he smiled back at her and it was as genuine as could be.
Holding it in her mind, she began the descent.
It took a good twenty minutes of very carefully choosing her footing to get all the way down. One wrong step was all it would take to end everything, but eventually she managed to get to a point nearest the edge. And then she took another step forward, and then another. That was it, the absolute limits of her heat tolerance. As it was, sweat flooded down her face and into her eyes, soaking her hair.
Honestly, she was a mess. A sticky, disgusting, triumphant mess.
Crouching down, she placed the panel down at arm’s length so that it would absorb as much heat as possible. With that done, she picked up the wires in her slippery fingers and began the laborious process of hooking everything up to the simple light she brought along as an example.
Almost before she even plugged the light in, it blazed on so hot and bright that she heard gasps. Tilting her head back, she saw all of the Drones who had come down here with her, peering over the cliff face.
And, the Queen was standing on her own two feet, cheering wordlessly. In a split second, everyone else began to hum and shrill with pure triumph. Their buzzes filled the heated, sloshing air.
Dante beamed at her from so far above. Grinning and ecstatic, her heart about to hammer out of her throat, Mariella put her arms in the air and called out his name. “I did it!” she screamed. “I did it! We did it!”
But, the peace didn’t last.
Right before her eyes, a Drone stumbled and sailed off the edge of the cliff.
Time seemed to slow down.
Mariella screamed again, her voice abruptly deep in her own ears as she watched the Drone female tumble hard, crashing with dreadful thumps against every outcropping on the way down. Eventually, she slid to a halt with half her body submerged in fire. She made no sound, her neck snapped. Death had been instant.
Almost at the same instant, more began to fall. And not all of them were Drones. Some were thin, white, and hateful-looking.
Horror filled her.
No!
Of all the times for a Mite attack!
Dante’s face had disappeared. Mariella twisted around, searching for him, but she had no way of knowing if he was numbered amongst the fallen or the falling. Dread wracked her thoughts, nearly kept her rooted to the same spot as she kept looking around. Strangely, her mind actually felt very calm and took stock of the situation for her.
More Drones in this one area than she had ever seen at one time meant more Mites. This was a full-scale invasion.
Of course it is.
After they failed to kill her the last time, they had to know that she was very near to completing the power source that would turn the tide of the war. This was their last-ditch effort to end it all, to finally win.
That meant everyone was in danger, not just her.
Thinking quickly, she turned back to her experiment and grabbed two things: a heavy wrench, and the light.
With her weapons in hand, she went in search of the two most important aliens in her life.
However, she didn’t have to go very far.
He ran right into her.
Rather, he fell.
Dante slammed into her at full-speed, knocking them both down off the path and to the last few feet of outcropping in front of the lava waves. She screamed, but Dante was swift and agile for such a large man. He twisted them as they fell, so they actu
ally landed higher up than when they started.
“Dante!” she cried out, and threw her arms around him. Suddenly, miraculously, he reciprocated. “Where’s the Queen?”
“Still above,” he gasped. “I was defending her when this horrible Mite threw me. Mariella, I thought I was strong but he tore right through the guard and threw me! He threw me!”
For some reason, the thought of Dante being so indignant about another man picking him up was funny. Laughter started bubbling up in her throat, uncontrollable. She pressed her fists to her mouth, giggling hysterically. Tears sprang to her overheated face. “Oh…oh….Dante,” she gasped, chuckling wretchedly. “You should…see…your face!”
No!” he said, sounding stricken. “Mariella!”